Hooker jumping back 'in the deep end'

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt might be the main drawcard for Friday's Diamond League meeting in Monaco, but eyes will also be on Australian Steve Hooker's season debut in the men's pole vault.

Reigning double world and Olympic sprint champion Bolt will race the 100m in another test of his form ahead of the August 27-September 4 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

The 24-year-old, the 100m world record holder in 9.58 seconds, will face compatriots Nesta Carter and Michael Frater as well as France's European champion Christophe Lemaitre and Portugal's Nigerian-born veteran Francis Obikwelu, the world 60m indoor champion.

Hooker, however, will be up against an even stronger field, the current world, Olympic and Commonwealth champion admitting that he was throwing himself "in at the deep end".

"Monaco will be my absolute first competition since last October," said the 29-year-old, whose opponents will include the French trio of Renaud Lavillenie, Jerome Clavier and Romain Mesnil, 2003 world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy, and 2007 world champion Brad Walker of the United States.

"It is jumping straight in at the deep end, I guess. But there's no better place to start than against the best in the world in a competition that's virtually a world championships final."

Hooker added: "I've been missing the adrenaline of competition, that feeling of being out there and being competitive.

"First, it's Monaco. I had thought about doing Paris but, in the end, the decision was that I needed to get some training done. The Diamond League in Paris had tough conditions, it wouldn't have been an ideal way to start as it turned out."

Friday's outing, Hooker predicted, "will be good. There's no better place to start. I always go into my first competition aiming to get a big result and that's how I'm going to be approaching this one. I'm going to go out and have a good crack at it".